05- 071 C.M.R. ch. 4, § 03 - GENERAL REQUIREMENT OF NONDISCRIMINATION

A. Nondiscrimination

The right to freedom from discrimination on the basis of sex in public and publicly supported educational institutions is recognized and declared to be a civil right. This right includes the opportunity for an individual at an educational institution to participate in all academic and extra-curricular programs and related activities without discrimination on the basis of sex.

B. Affirmative Action

Remedial action which results in preferential treatment of one sex, undertaken pursuant to court order or a formal consent decree or settlement as the result of action by an authorized federal or state agency, shall not be unlawful educational discrimination for purposes of the Act.

Affirmative action resulting in preferential treatment of one sex, if undertaken pursuant to an affirmative action plan adopted by the governing body of the institution, shall be deemed not to be unlawful educational discrimination under the Act. Such affirmative action plans may be adopted in the absence of a finding of unlawful educational discrimination to overcome the effects of conditions of the past which have resulted in limited participation by persons of one sex and may involve special recruitment, counseling and other efforts to encourage the participation of members of that sex in programs or activities traditionally entered by the opposite sex. Neither sex can be entirely excluded from any activity by such affirmative action efforts. Nothing in this section, however, shall limit the ability of an educational institution to sponsor a single sex team in interscholastic or intercollegiate athletic competitions in compliance with § 4.11(C).

Notes

05- 071 C.M.R. ch. 4, § 03